To Infinity and Beyond

Shhhh. Rumors about recent UFO crashes in and around College Park are unsubstantiated. But reports of flying saucer sightings continue to spread. And the gaggle of G-men in dark suits and darker glasses hanging around said locations on and near the University of Maryland campus seems to suggest a government conspiracy. On top of that, self-appointed science officer Steve O'Hearn isn't talking. At least not much.

Further investigation reveals that O'Hearn isn't merely a science officer. A trumpeter/saxophonist/wind instrumentalist, he's half of the creative brains behind Squonk Opera. The brainy, bold music-and-performance ensemble from Pittsburgh is once again daring to go where no performance art has gone before. Two years ago, the iconoclastic troupe brought the grandiose "College Park: The Opera" to the area, and back in 2003 it was "Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk," a sprawling multimedia frolic.

This time, Squonk is taking on outer space in what's being billed as a "galactic premiere."

A dozen Squonkers -- including co-founder, composer and accordionist Jackie Dempsey, plus guitarists, bass players, a singer, a percussionist and a mission control director and engineer -- will touch down in College Park on Wednesday for three days of "Astro-rama." The free event unfurls on the outdoor courtyard behind the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. (Visitors must enter through the center's front doors and pass through the building up the stairs to the courtyard. If the weather looks dicey, check the Smith Center's Web site, http://www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu, for information on the performances.)

"Astro-rama" isn't your typical theater experience, and that's the point. Ruth Waalkes, director of artistic initiatives at the Smith Center, says she wants to reach people who may never have been to a traditional theater or concert venue. So spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets, and a snack -- just like they might for a fireworks display -- to view the 75-minute spectacle. "It's not a show really, as far as we're concerned," O'Hearn says. "Instead, we are sending a message into outer space, and to do that we have to create a self-portrait of ourselves."

That human portrait is created through music, video, lighting and special effects. Squonk company members built and schlepped from Pittsburgh a 40-foot radio telescope dish intended to send signals into the night sky, beyond the atmosphere, far into the universe, toward 51 Pegasus (officially, 51 Pegasi b), the first planet discovered outside our solar system. O'Hearn and his musicians (the Astro-ramanauts) plan to tune their instruments to the galactic frequency of B-flat, in tune with the hum of the universe.

"Astro-rama" might sound like a goofball takeoff of 1950s sci-fi Saturday features, but O'Hearn says he wants to engage observers, to get them to question ideas about humanity's place on the planet and in the universe, about beliefs in forces of nature, of spirit, and of the supernatural and the superhuman. Squonk, just like its name sounds, is raw, risky, messy and visceral, confounding and, yes, funny. And O'Hearn wouldn't have it any other way.

" 'Astro-rama' is about us being in the middle of the universe," he says. "In the past half-century or so, we have begun to understand that as humans our planet is limited and that we're just a little ball floating in space with limited resources.

"One of the most wondrous things that nature gives us is the sky at night outside. We were inspired by that. Looking up is the whole point. The show is designed high, to look up. It's a chance to get outside of ourselves and place ourselves in the bigger universe. We're grand, huge intellects in a tiny little part of the universe. . . . It allows us to get outside of our everyday, mundane concerns."

Squonk Opera's Astro-rama Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, Route 193 and Stadium Drive, College Park. 301-405-2787. Wednesday, Thursday and Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. Free.